Isaacson believes the Apple-Beats deal is more about video, speculating that Cook wants Iovine to run Apple’s content business and help them launch the TV product analysts have been touting for years. Isaacson suggests that Iovine has the “charisma and connections” to round up the networks the way he did the music labels back in 2002. “His track record of success in marrying content and tech gives that theory some weight.”

The writer concludes that this move is their way of “facing up to the fact that Jobs is truly gone and that their beloved Apple is about to become a very different company.”